HOUSTON, May 10, 2017 (PCW) -- NYMEX crude and products futures prices were up Wednesday after government figures showed a decrease in crude stocks and a small draw in gasoline.

The US remains long in crude, gasoline and diesel. Refinery crude inputs nationwide were lower and exports of products were down but still healthy. Domestic gasoline demand is still stubbornly below last year's levels.

As of 10:05 am CDT, June NYMEX WTI was up $1.45/bbl to $47.33/bbl; June gasoline rose 4.28 cpg to 153.23 cpg; and May diesel increased 3.46 cpg to 146.67 cpg.

Crude inventories 5.2m barrels lower

The US Energy Information Administration statistics for the week ending May 5 showed a 5.2 million barrel decrease in crude inventories to 522.5 million barrels (“in the upper half of the average range,” per the EIA). This is the fifth week in a row that inventories have decreased.

Domestic crude oil production was put at 9.314 million b/d, up 21,000 b/d for the week, and 512,000 b/d higher versus the same period last year.

Imports of crude were off 644,000 b/d to about 8.2 million b/d on the week. Over the past four weeks, crude imports averaged 8.2 million b/d, an increase of 5.0% compared to last year at this time.

Gasoline imports rise to 953,000 b/d

Gasoline imports were put at 953,000 b/d, up from 693,000 b/d the previous week; for the same period last year the figure was 779,000 b/d. Distillate imports were 115,000 b/d, up from 112,000 b/d on the week; the figure for last year was 118,000 b/d (typically the US imports products to the US East Coast and exports from the US Gulf Coast).

Total product demand over the past four weeks was put at 19.7 million b/d, down 1.6% versus the same period last year.

Total gasoline inventories (including blendstocks) were down 0.2 million barrels to 241.1 million barrels (“above the upper limit of the average range,” per the EIA), 0.5 million barrels above last year. Demand was 9.2 million b/d over the past four weeks, off 2.4% from the same period last year.

Distillate stocks decrease 1.6m barrels

Distillate stocks totaled 148.8 million barrels (“in the upper half of the average range”), off 1.6 million barrels compared with last week, and 6.6 million barrels below last year. Distillate demand over the past four weeks was 4.1 million b/d, down 0.7% compared with the same period last year.

Propane/propylene inventories on the week were 41.6 million barrels (“in the lower half of the average range”), up 2.0 million barrels on the week, and lower by 31.5 million barrels versus last year.

Total US refinery inputs averaged 16.8 million b/d, down 418,000 b/d compared with the previous week. Inputs of crude oil nationwide to refineries were lower by 1.8 percentage points to 91.5%. In the Gulf Coast, refinery runs were down 1.2 percentage points to 93.4% of capacity.

Exports are lower

Also, net exports of all products were put at 2.023 million b/d, off 681,000 b/d for the week, still a fairly bullish number. The US needs to export products to keep inventories manageable.

While domestic gasoline demand was put at 9.2 million b/d, total gasoline production came in at 10.024 million b/d. Distillate demand was 4.2 million b/d, but production was 4.956 million b/d. --
Robert Sharp